


Something New

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Anyone who reads my shit knows I am a master of fading to black so maybe not, F/F, F/M, Fluff, High School, Humanstuck, Moving, Multi, Possible smut later, adapting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 15:25:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6200539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Terezi Pyrope is starting life in a new state, at a new school, thanks to her mother's new job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Moving Day

**Author's Note:**

> To those who have been anticipating this: Sorry it came late! Life happened and it sucked, but it's here now and that's the best I can do for you. I likely won't update as frequently as I could and/or should, but I'll do what I can.
> 
> To those who have not been anticipating this: This is a re-write of one of my first fics. I welcome all comments and/or criticisms because honestly, I recognize that I am a pretty awful writer and have tons of room to improve. The only thing I might get annoyed about is comments on the title, because I've been trying for a titles guy since day one.

Bracing, cool air found its way into your room through the cracked window as you paced, and you couldn't help but admit that it did have a sort of calming affect on you, which you most certainly needed. You were fairly certain that what you actually needed resided in San Diego, California, with a constantly, almost febrile warmth that could pull you close and squeeze you tight and whisper sweet nothings in your ear that would fight away your worries like a verbal knight in shining armor. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be made possible until you had already moved, which was the source of your discomfort.

A long, sharp inhale provided you with the familiar scent of crystalline snow and pine trees, the scent of Minnesota, and of Russia, and of home. You closed your eyes tightly as you tried to take in the warmth, or rather the slicing cold, that the scent brought with it, and sighed longingly through your nose as you could almost, _almost_ see it, feel the pine needles against your skin and the frigid snow landing on your face and entangling itself with your hair like a dying man reuniting with his long-lost love one final time before his last, rattling breath. And as you felt this, you felt your father's strong arms embracing you, and your imaginary scenario was ripped away from you, instead replaced with bitter tears making trails down your cheeks at the memory of a man long dead.

The taunting voices of other kids your age echoed in your head as you're sure your mother's scornful co-workers' voices still haunted her, muttering about how her husband had left. That was the downside to disappearing for a long time, only to come back with no explanation, a refusal to say what had happened, only saying your husband was gone.

No, there was no sympathy for the Pyrope family, not for your amiable mother, who was raising two daughters with no help not because her husband had divorced her, but because he had become deceased; not for your intrepid sister, who somehow managed to keep her smile intact even just a week after her dad, your dad's, passing; not for you, who squirmed under the gaze of anyone who looked at you for weeks, excepting only Karkat.

A sharp knock echoed through the room that you recognized as your mom's.

"Terezi, have you got those stuffed dragons packed yet? The moving van will be here in an hour to pick up the furniture and I am not waiting another hour because you forgot to pack something!"

"Mom, no matter how much time has elapsed, my scalemates won't stop being the first things I packed." A small huff forced its way out from between your lips as she cracked the door (if the familiar squeak of its hinges was any sign, that is) to peer in at you, making you flush. "...Sorry. You've just asked so many times."

"It's alright. Just..." She sighed, seeming almost as uncomfortable as you felt, which meant that she was probably internally screaming or squirming or doing something else underneath her confident aura. You could feel her eyes settle on you, a tingling sensation that was, at this point, almost painful, making connection with the side of your face, and you were almost thankful that your mother was just as blind as you were, unless the difference in reasons to be blind (hers being birth, you guessed, and yours being an accident) counted as different levels of blindness. You supposed that would make sense, being that you had seen the sun as opposed to just felt it on your skin; you'd seen your sister's face, and your father's smile, and the way that Vriska's lips twitched before she smiled (more of a smirk, really), as if she considered it, every single time, and then you had just lost it all, ripped away from you by the burning sun in the sky. In an ironic twist, the time you actually went blind from staring at the sun happened to be a solar eclipse. "Try to be ready by the time the moving van is here; Latula is just finishing up with packing all of her electronics and then she's doing her clothes, and she'll probably stop in here after, so be prepared for your sister."

You inhaled deeply and nodded, and she closed the door behind her, so you sighed and wiped at your face. There wasn’t a lot left to pack, anymore. Your laptop and its charger, some clothes maybe, then you just had to crate the dogs, stuff your phone in your pocket, and get in the car. 

So you figured it couldn’t have hurt your schedule too much if you were to stop packing for a minute to message Karkat and/or Vriska. 

You stretched before you took a few cautious steps toward the wall. You remembered that your desk had been moved, and that your phone was lying somewhere on the floor, but you couldn’t exactly remember where either were. When the corner of the cherry wood desk then connected with your hip bone and shot waves of pain through your entire hip, you wanted to slur out a stream of profanities, but instead just dug your teeth into your lower lip and clutched your hand to the newly-forming bruise as if to stifle a stream of blood, to spare yourself the lecture from your mother about swearing (not that she cared, she just felt like a bad parent if she didn’t get on to you somehow). 

Eventually you moved your hand to feel along the top of the desk, the smooth, cool wood a comforting feeling until you found your laptop, before you moved the other hand and picked it up with both. You turned and plopped down in the spinny chair in the corner where your desk used to be, and sat still for a couple of moments grinning as it spun before it settled down and you opened your laptop. 

It took a moment for it to boot up and for you to type in your password, and you thanked the Lord you didn’t believe in that the satanic ritual you were forced to participate in known as updates was not currently required. Trollian took another minute to open before you finally managed to type in your password and see who was online (or more accurately have your computer tell you who was online through screen reader). By some miracle, you’d managed to catch Vriska, and of course it was just after one in the afternoon, so Karkat was likely still sleeping, it being a Saturday and 11:11 AM out there. 

Oh well. You’d catch him next time. 

gallowsCalibrator [GC]  began trolling  arachnidsGrip [AG]  at 13:12. 

GC: L34V1NG 1N 4N HOUR  
GC: 1 4M NOT R34DY FOR TH1S  
AG: Calm doooooooown, it’s not that 8ad!  
AG: You’re going to 8e a lot closer to me, we can finally hang out again. ::::D  
GC: Y34H, BUT 1 M34N  
GC: 1 DUNNO, 1TS W31RD, BUT 1 GU3SS 1M SORT OF 4TT4CH3D TO H3R3?  
GC: L1K3, 1TS B33N N1N3 Y34RS, TH1S 1S HOM3 NOW  
GC: 1V3 B33N H3R3 FOR MOST OF MY L1F3  
AG: Relaaaaaaaax, that’s normal!  
AG: You aren’t some freak 8ecause you don’t want to leave your childhood home. Do you know how grumpy Karkat was when he first moved here?  
AG: This may come as a shock to you, 8ut it was even more than usual!  
GC: 1 4M L1K3 90% SUR3 YOUR3 M4K1NG TH4T UP  
AG: Nope!  
AG: So don’t worry a8out it.  
AG: You’re going to move down here and 8e with us, and it’ll 8e awesome!  
GC: 1F 1T 1SNT, DO 1 G3T TO H1T YOU?  
AG: That sounds fair.  
GC: >:D  
AG: There, and now you have something to look forward to for when you move down here. ::::)  
GC: TH4NKS VR1SK4  
GC: FOR ONC3 YOU W3R3 4CTU4LLY SORT OF H3LPFUL  
GC: SORT OF  
GC: BUT 1 GOTT4 F1N1SH P4CK1NG NOW, SO L4T3R

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]  at 13:18. 

Your laptop sounded the obnoxious notification that it was at 10% as you logged out of Trollian, so you decided to shut down after that and let it charge for the next couple of minutes while you packed up the leftover clothes in a box and waited for Latula to come to your room and help you move the boxes currently piled up downstairs. Then the moving truck would get here and you would all move the boxes there, before climbing in the car and driving to a hotel in Casper, Wyoming. You weren’t excited to be going to San Diego, despite the fact that you were down the street from one of your best friends or that you were going to be in the same city as almost all of your friends, because even though it meant that you were going to have new experiences and be able to hang out with everyone you cared about, it meant that you had to leave behind pretty much everything you knew.

It only took you a couple of minutes to gather up all of the clothes that were strewn about the floor and toss them in a box (as opposed to folding them neatly like your mother probably would have wanted you to), and you then folded up the top and taped it down. Getting on your hands and knees and scrambling around on the floor for a minute to find your phone wasn’t too hard, and then you just had to get your laptop and charger and you were ready to go.

Despite your mother’s previous warning, and your own expectation, you still flinched when Latula kicked open the door to your room. You were actually somewhat shocked she didn’t skateboard in, with that dramatic entrance and all.

“Yo, sis! Ready to get these boxes all gathered up to move ‘em downstairs?” Despite her excited tone, she was talking to you like you might talk to a six-year-old, which she should have known was not commonly appreciated.

Instead of answering her question, of course, you just picked up one of the heavier boxes and practically shoved it into her arms. Latula stumbled for a moment before nodding and turning on her heels to take it downstairs, and you secured the recently-packed box of clothes in your arms before following her.

Upon arriving downstairs and putting the box down, of course, the tapping of claws against the floor was the only warning you got as your dogs bounded toward you, all but jumping on you. You still lost your footing briefly and almost fell over, but accepted your fate as Lemonsnout stood on his hind legs and rested his paws on your shoulders to lick at your face, and Pyralspite nuzzled her nose into your behind. You snorted and tried to get at least one of them off you, finally getting Pyralspite to back off as Latula came back downstairs with another box in her arms.

It was your sister who got the blond lab off, patting his head before laughing at you while you rubbed the saliva off of your face. You scowled at her in response and dashed up the stairs to get a fourth box, likely filled with scalemates. There was only one other box for Tula to get.

“Girls, the moving van is here!” Your mother somehow always managed to call when it was least convenient for you, so you had to rush yourself and almost tripped down the stairs. You skipped over the last two, and caught yourself on Pyralspite, who let out a quiet whine but quickly readjusted herself to support your weight. You stroked down her back a couple of times before helping Latula with the last box, which was a bit overstuffed and clearly heavy. Then, as a team of three, you hurriedly got all of the boxes from Tula’s room downstairs and started moving them to the van. When there were only three or four left, you summoned the dogs to follow you upstairs so you could crate them and get them into the car.

“Mom!” Her response was muffled but plainly heard, so you chose to assume she’d heard you call her and was ready to fulfill a request. “I need help with the crates!”

“Ask your sister!”

“Latula isn’t strong enough to carry them, either!” You could plainly hear her groan before your sister snickered, which you were certain would earn her a glare from mom. You tapped your foot impatiently as you waited for a response.

“I’ll be there in a minute!” You nodded and listened as her footsteps marked her progress up the stairs, and grinned as she finally arrived on your level. You gripped one side of Pyral’s crate as your mother went to lift the other, and you both groaned as you started to lift. You practically shuffled down the stairs, before putting the dog down and assuming Latula would push it out as your mother and yourself brought Lemonsnout down.

When you were finally outside, snowflakes got caught in your hair, and you didn’t even attempt to remove them by shaking your head. Closing your eyes and inhaling deeply, you were aware that this would be the last time you would smell home.

Pine was the first thing that reached your nose. The smell of the trees that surrounded your large home in Big Falls (which was, ironically, a ridiculously small town, where everyone knew everyone else) was just like the smell that surrounded your much smaller home back in Chita, though maybe slightly less fresh. The next thing that reached you was the snow, and then the sweat and Dark Temptation body spray of the moving truck driver, then your sister’s Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid scent, and the familiar key lime and sea salt of your mother.

* * *

The smell of cigarettes was so strong upon entering the room that you were pretty sure even Latula crinkled up her nose, and she was anosmic. You put down the bag containing your laptop and charger, pajamas, and clothes for tomorrow on one of the beds, and looked around, as if you could possibly take in your surroundings that way. Latula took the hint and sat down on the other one.

Sitting down next to your belongings, you found that, despite the smell of the room, it actually had quality furniture. Or at the very least, the bed was comfortable, and the pillows were soft, though the blanket was a bit over-tucked, so it was a struggle to crawl underneath it, if only for a moment to test the comfort of the bed without bedding in the way. You almost immediately sprang into a sitting position, and opened the bag before feeling around for a moment, until you had a good grip on your laptop and rescued it from it's Walmart-branded, plastic prison.

Being that it was now 2:37 AM in California, you were fairly certain that Karkat would be awake at this hour, so you of course had to message him on Trollian to alert him of your progress. After all, you were his best friend aside from maybe Sollux, so of course he would want to know where you were and how you were doing. And if you were being completely honest, you wanted to talk to him.

gallowsCalibrator [GC]  began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 3:38. 

GC: K4RK4T!  
GC: BL4RG, 1 KNOW YOUR3 4W4K3!  
GC: 1TS ONLY L1K3 2:40 WH3R3 YOU L1V3, W4K3 TH3 FUCK UUUP!  
GC: K4RK4T  
GC: K4RK4T 1 SW34R  
CG: OH MY GOD, WHAT DO YOU WANT?  
CG: AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION, IT IS 2:42.  
GC: OH LOOK, SL33P1NG B34UTY H4S F1N4LLY 4WOK3N!  
CG: UGH, SHUT UP.  
GC: H3H3, YOU KNOW YOU LOV3 M3 <3  
GC: BUT 4NYW4Y!  
GC: GU3SS WH3R3 1 4M  
CG: SOME HOTEL IN BUMFUCK NO WHERE?  
GC: NO! 1 4M 4T TH3 SUP3R 8 1N C4SP3R, WYOM1NG  
CG: SAME THING.  
GC: 1T 1S NOT! >:[  
CG: WHAT CULTURAL RELEVANCE DOES CASPER, WYOMING HAVE?  
CG: AND IT ISN'T LIKE YOU'RE AT SOME SWEET FIVE STAR HOTEL, ARE YOU?  
GC: W3LL, NO >:/  
GC: BUT 1TS 3XC1T1NG!  
CG: WHY?  
GC: B3C4US3!  
GC: 1 4M H4LFW4Y TH3R3 >:D  
CG: WHAT, TO SAN DIEGO?  
GC: Y3S!  
CG: FUCK, 4LR34DY?  
GC: Y3S!  
GC: 1SNT 1T GR34T?  
CG: I MEAN.  
CG: IT'S EXCITING, I GUESS.  
CG: YOU'RE ONE OF MY CLOSER FRIENDS AND YOU'LL ACTUALLY BE HERE, BUT I WOULDN'T GO AS FAR AS TO LABEL IT "GREAT."  
CG: GREAT IS FOR.  
CG: I DUNNO.  
CG: WHEN YOU ACTUALLY GET HERE?  
GC: 4W  
GC: YOU B1G S4P  
CG: WHAT?  
GC: THAT WAS NOT SAPPY!  
GC: TOT4LLY W4S  
CG: NO IT WASN'T!  
GC: W4S SO  
CG: NO.  
GC: Y3S!  
GC: >;]  
CG: NO.  
CG: STOP THAT.  
GC: >;] >;] >;]  
CG: TEREZI, OH MY GOD.  
GC: SO 4NYW4Y, WH4T H4V3 YOU B33N UP TO?  
CG: AVOIDING MY SISTERS AND THEIR MAYHEMIC WAYS, MAKING SURE KANKRI DOESN'T CATCH ME UP THIS LATE SO THAT I DON'T GET AN EARFUL. YOU KNOW, THE USUAL.  
GC: TH3 G1RLS 4R3 OUT?  
CG: MOM, TOO, BUT IT'S ONE OF THOSE VISITS WHERE HER AND DAD ARE GETTING ALONG SO WE DON'T SEE MUCH OF EITHER OF THEM.  
CG: WHICH I GUESS IS BETTER THAN THEM FIGHTING, BUT NOT BY A LOT.  
GC: BL3CH, 1M SORRY  
CG: DON'T BE.  
CG: I TOLD YOU, IT'S NOT AS BAD AS IT COULD BE.  
GC: W3LL, 1M ST1LL SORRY  
GC: UGH, 1 W1SH TH4T 1 COULD K33P T4LK1NG, TRUST M3, BUT 1TS 3:57 OUT H3R3 4ND 1M T1R3D, SO 1M PROB4BLY GO1NG TO GO 4H34D 4ND C4TCH 4 SHOW3R B3FOR3 1 P4SS OUT  
GC: N1GHT, K4RKL3S  
CG: DON'T CALL ME THAT.  
GC: UGH  
GC: 1LL TRY 4G41N  
GC: GOODN1GHT, K4RKL3S  
CG: ...  
CG: NIGHT, TEREZI.  
GC: <3 

gallowsCalibrator [GC]  ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 3:58. 


	2. Arrival

An annoying digital alarm blaring in your ear at seven in the morning was not typically how you wanted to start your day, but you supposed it was better than your mother bursting in without knocking and screaming at you in Russian, as per the usual morning routine. Still, it wasn't fun as you shot up and your sister jumped and practically fell out of the other bed with an audible "thunk." Feeling along the end table next to you was the next important quest, because your trademark red glasses (AKA the things you had been wearing since you were about five that your friends all used to recognize you in the distance) were always the first thing you put on in the morning, despite them making getting clothes on rather annoying.

A sharp knock on the door announced your mother's presence; or what would be her presence as soon as either Latula got up from the floor, or you got "real clothes" on. "Real clothes" really just meant "not pajamas." With a groan, your sister finally got up as you tugged a T-shirt over your head and felt around in your bag for a pair of jeans, or some other form of pants that would replace the Batman "Bring Coffee" pajama pants you currently adorned.

You ended up with a grey pair of yoga pants, which was boring, but at the very least was a shade of grey that smelled less like asphalt and more like fog and laundry detergent.

You didn't have pockets in these pants, so you would have to hold your phone, which would make it much more tempting to use.

"...ave all of your stuff, because-- Oh, Terezi, you're awake!" You nodded and yawned, and you could tell that she had to resist the temptation to roll her eyes at you, because how could you be tired at seven in the morning when you were running off of a mere two and a half hours' sleep, or thereabouts? She must have gotten to sleep as soon as she went in her room. "Well, as I was just telling Latula, make sure you have all of your stuff before we leave, because I am not turning around when we get to Salt Lake City because you forgot your hairbrush at the hotel."

"How long until we leave?" You didn't actually particularly care when you were leaving, it was more you knew that you wouldn't get to see your friends until tomorrow if you waited much longer to leave and you did _not_ want to miss them. Realistically, you would have to wait anyway, being that even if you left right that second, you wouldn't get there until midnight, but a girl could dream.

"As soon as the two of you have collected your shit!" You flinched at the swear, because your mother honestly didn't swear that much, but turned on your heel and went to throw your pajamas into the bag and pick it up, because as far as you could remember, that was really all you needed to gather.

You returned a minute later, huffing, Latula about two steps behind you. Despite the fact that you hadn't really been that physically active, you were scrawny and didn't really run or do a lot of moving, unlike your sister, so you got rather easily winded. Not to say that you didn't go outside, or that you were particularly out of shape, you loved sitting outside while Latula and Mituna skateboarded when he would come to visit, and you walked the dogs and played with them all on your own, because you'd refused to make more work for your mom, but you weren't really active enough to say that your lungs had adjusted to a decent amount of movement at 7:00 AM. Well, you supposed it was probably closer to 7:30, now.

"Can I message Karkat before we leave?"

"Just text him!"

"He never looks at his phone, he won't see it until we're already out there. Plus, it isn't like he'll be awake at this hour, it's like 6:00 AM out there."

"Then why do you want to message him?" Fuck, she had you there. You had practically dug your own grave with that argument, and Latula's snort as she pulled out her phone to text Mituna was proof enough of that fact, yet you still stuck your tongue out at her. "Put that back in your mouth. You can message him later, you have a phone."

As your trio went downstairs to check out, you wondered if it was too hot or uncomfortable for the dogs. You had left the crates unlocked during the night so that they could get out with enough determination, but you weren't able to bring them into the hotel because of its no pet policy, so they had been left outside all night. It probably would have made a lot more sense to send them with the moving van, or some sort of pet transportation service that you were sure existed, but you couldn't stand being separate from them for two or three whole days, and it would have been irresponsible to leave them with no one to feed or water them for multiple days, anyway. Two days, you were pretty sure, was long enough to die of dehydration. Of course, when you did get to the car, they were living, and the water bowls you had left in their crates during the night were empty, though the food was still half-full; Lemonsnout was sleeping, but Pyralspite had just been laying down, and immediately sat up, tail swishing behind her.

You climbed into the back to sit between the dogs' crates as your sister climbed into the driver's seat and your mother tapped her way around the car to sit in the passenger's. You did turn on your phone's screen to check the time, and your phone announced that it was 7:38. The sound filling the otherwise silent car made your face flush, and you were quickly reminded to plug in earbuds not only by yourself, but also by your mother, as your sister plugged your mom's headset to her phone so she could talk to Mituna while she drove.

When you took off and turned out of the parking lot, Lemonsnout's crate slid and practically slammed into your side, making you shout "fuck" at the top of your lungs. You were thankful your music started before the ensuing rant did.

You sighed and opened Trollian on your phone. Being that the app already had your account information, it would already be signed in when it loaded, which was convenient, because you weren't the best with the phone's keyboard, being that it did not have a screen reader to tell you when you made a typo or to read your sentences out loud to tell you that you'd made a mistake; it did have auto-correct. It kind of sucked, but you couldn't necessarily open your laptop, and your phone had 3G.

gallowsCalibrator [GC]  began trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  at 7:40. 

GC: H3Y  
GC: 1 KNOW YOU 4R3NT 4W43 R1GHT NW  
GC: BUT 1 JUST L3FT TH3 HOT3L, 4ND W3LL B3 BL3 TO H4NG OUT TOMORROW! W3LL, HOP3ULLY

gallowsCalibrator [GC]  ceased trolling  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  at 7:43. 

* * *

You were awoken by an abrupt stop of the car, as if your sister had forgotten that she could slow to a stop and had to suddenly slam on the brakes so she wouldn't crash into your new house. Apparently, your phone had already adjusted to the change in timezone, being that it said it was 11:58, and you knew for a fact you had been asleep for more than two hours; you, however, had not adjusted to the change in timezone, because your brain still thought that it was 1:58, which was what time it was back in Minnesota, though it was only 12:58 in Wyoming, which you practically just left. Your dogs whined to be let out of their crates to stretch their legs once they saw the house.

The crick in your neck throbbed when you moved your head, and you winced, but you'd quickly learned to ignore them and opened the door to hop out of the back of the car and let Lemonsnout and Pyralspite out. Pyralspite licked at your face after stretching, and you couldn't help but laugh, before you took a couple of steps back and she jumped out to join her mate, who had already been released. Your mom moved to let them into the backyard, as you and Latula checked out the house from the outside, though it wasn't as if you had the option to not live in it at this point (nor would you for the next two years, at least).

Though it was dark, the lack of light didn't stifle the smell of buttercream frosting that told you of the off-white exterior walls, and the roof was a sort of roasted cinnamon color. The door was huge, but that didn't make up for the fact that there were only three windows on this side of the two-story house.

Your mother had already told you it was three bedroom, two bathroom, and if you were being quite honest with yourself, with the prices of housing in California, you were fortunate that your mother was not only a lawyer, but a good one, and even then, you would likely need to get some sort of job. The fact that it had a yard only supported that it was likely going to be one of those super expensive houses that didn't even have enough space for everything the people living in it wanted to do. Actually, you assumed that there would likely be some sort of office space for your mom, and once the new semester started, Latula would be getting a dorm to share with Mituna so she didn't have your mother and yourself waggling your eyebrows at her every time they went to hang out in her room, so her room would go to the dogs.

"The internet and other bills are already paid, but I am going to go ahead and tell you to go to bed, anyway, even though I know that neither of you will listen to me; just try to stay quiet, the furniture is here but not unpacked yet, I'll have some guys over tomorrow to help set that up so you can just go to a friend's house or something, I'll call you when everything is done. Just so you know, it will probably take about all day." Even your mother seemed particularly bored as she rattled off her list of plans for the next day, but you nodded when she was done and Latula shrugged, before the both of you ran off to continue your thorough observation of the house. It was extremely important that you knew what your house was like.

On the first floor, you had the kitchen and one of the bathrooms, as well as a rather large living room, and the office, which already had a desk and a bookshelf, though both were unoccupied. You assumed that was something your mother had ordered, but maybe some basic furniture had come with the house and she would be able to sell her desk and make some of the money she had spent to move back. They were the same smooth, new-smelling cherry wood of your desk, making you smile at the familiar scent. The walls in this room were a dull, grey-ish green, which smelled like the perfume your grandmother wore, only much less overwhelming, and the floor was a traditional hardwood flooring, making you wonder if there would be carpeting in this house, as you didn't think you'd felt some when you entered. Exiting the office, you decided it would likely be wise to inspect the living room next.

The same hardwood floors of the other room followed in here, though that was about the only similarity. The walls were like crackle-patterned eggshells, only slightly more a brown-tinted color; certainly only off-white, though. The entire room smelled like tapioca and vanilla extract, which was sure to make your mouth water if you didn't step out of it soon enough, and you thought that perhaps the most noticeable thing about it was that it was completely empty, and rather large, with a fireplace about five feet away from where you were standing, slightly off-kilter from the center of the room. An old archway marked your entrance into the kitchen.

The walls of this room were not an attractive color, a sort of yellow that smelled of wax with the faint, cloying scent of ammonia to top it all off. The floor was the same hardwood of the rest of the house, and you really were beginning to assume that the entire house, including the bedrooms and the bathrooms, would just lack any form of carpeting or tile. The sleek counters were topped with a grey-colored marble that made the price of the house in your mind shoot up, though it had been laying relatively low before with its lack of carpets (relatively to other homes in CA, that is).

Overall, it was nice, and you didn't want to spend much more time observing in detail.

Climbing the spiritual equivalent of Mount Everest to your bedroom only piled on to your previously building avalanche of exhaustion, and pretty soon this shit-storm would catch up to you and you would pass out. Remembering that you didn't have a bed didn't make it any better, because you had the knowledge that you had to march all the way downstairs to get the box that contained your bedding, carry it back up to your room, pile it all on the floor, and then make yourself comfortable with what you'd managed to salvage before the moving guys got here; which, of course, you did, but you certainly weren't happy about it! As you curled up on the cold floor, your skin prickled up with goosebumps, and you wondered who you would talk to first in the morning. 

* * *

You jumped when your sister tapped on your shoulder in the morning to wake you up and inform you that the furniture guys were here, and you groaned when you remembered that you had slept on the floor, though you supposed it was more comfortable than sleeping sitting up in the back of the car while driving to your new home from some cheap hotel in the middle of Wyoming.

She moved so you could sit up, and you stretched, before pushing yourself into a standing position. You sort of wanted to ask what time it was, but you knew that it would be much later than you could appreciate waking up at, so you didn't think you actually wanted to look at a clock.

"You can go to Karkat's, it's late enough that he'll be up." When your eyebrows shot up, she rolled her eyes at you, before she seemingly realized that you were silently asking what time it was because you really must have slept late if Karkat was actually awake. "It's like 11:32 AM." You almost snorted that she'd thought to specify that it was still the morning hours, before you finally left the room to go downstairs and outside.

You were only mildly distressed that you didn't have the ability to brush your teeth, since even the dental hygiene products were in a bag in the car, so you weren't too upset when you approached your mother and asked if she could unlock the doors so you could get your gum, since you didn't want to dirty the sink on day one. Who knew, you might even use mouthwash, which you could spit out while you were still outside. You didn't, but it was a nice thought! Instead, you shoved your gum into your mouth and grabbed your red converse, as well as a pair of socks, before pulling them all onto your feet and tying the laces as quickly and tightly as you could in such a rush to begin your walk down the street and see Karkat face-to-face for the first time in almost nine years. Granted, you'd stayed in touch with Trollian and Skype, but a video call wasn't the same as being able to hug and play video games next to each other and dump buckets of water on each others' heads for no reason like you could do in person. If you were able to do those things over a video chat, you'd probably have done it more often, with him not being able to freak out and chase you around afterward.

When you knocked on the door, it was Kankri that answered, and he just sort of blinked at you, though Nepeta was on his tail and her face brightened like a Christmas tree when she figured out who you were. You had never actually met Nepeta in person, being that when you were younger and had first met Karkat when you both still lived in New York, she was still a toddler all the way out in California. But you had become familiar with her through the power of the internet, and didn't make any attempts to shove her off of you when she practically tackled you with a hug, though you did take a moment to stumble back and regain your balance before you reciprocated the action. The noises she made were a slur of excited statements and giggles and shriek-like noises that you assumed were good.

"Oh, hello Terezi." You had almost forgotten about the older boy in the doorway, and he reeked of confusion as you stood there in front of him, holding onto his younger sister-- or, half-sister, as Karkat always rushed to remind you. "I wish I'd have known you were coming over, I would have prepared some sort of snack, as our parents are upstairs doing-- well, you know just as well as I do that they really only do two things when they're left alone in a room together, and you may be able to hear for yourself that they aren't fighting. Well, nonetheless, I can still prepare you something. The girls are watching a movie at the moment, one of Karkat's romantic comedies, though for some reason he didn't want to come downstairs and watch it with us, or them; he was much more comfortable in the solace of his room. You know him though, this isn't really any new sort of behavior, otherwise I'd be--"

"You got tall." It was the first thing you'd said as long as you had been standing here, and Nepeta, at least three inches shorter than you, finally unlatched herself from your midriff to stare up at your face, as if you were going to say anything more. Kankri just blinked again, before a soft smile spread across his face and he straightened, though it really only added an inch or two to his height. His slouch wasn't anywhere near as bad as Karkat's, who really had more of a hunch than anything, and not the detective "I've figured it out!" kind of hunch, either.

"Well, I suppose so. I'm only 5'8", shorter than average, though our father says I've got at least another good inch in me, possibly two. If anyone's grown, it's you, the last time I remember seeing you, you were only six or seven, and you weren't very tall for your age, though still taller than Karkat; I suspect that's changed now, he's already 5'5"." He said this as if it was supposed to mean something to you, because with Karkat's slouch, he'd still be shorter than you, even if you were 5'2" and, unlike the Vantas boys, didn't have any more growing left to do. You had _not_ inherited your father's height.

"Can I... come in...?"

"Oh! Right! My apologies, that was very rude of me, come right in." He took a step to the side, holding the door open for you, and you waited a second for Nepeta to skip inside in front of you before you entered the house, noting already that it was much smaller than yours, though larger than their apartment in Manhattan.

Kankri guided you to the living room-- and he really, seriously _guided you,_ he'd held your hand and everything-- before leaving you alone with the Leijons to go into the kitchen and prepare a vegetable plate or whatever other healthy snack, because you couldn't imagine Kankri feeding you junk food. The least healthy thing you'd ever witnessed him eat was popcorn, and it wasn't even buttered. You did think it was lightly salted, though.

You had never attempted to interact with Meulin before, really. Her being deaf and you blind just made the entire thing a lot of effort that you really didn't want to put in, plus, you had met her in person about as frequently as you had met Nepeta, AKA not at all before now. However, even through the internet, you'd never really talked. You were starting to wonder if everyone here knew that you'd come to see Karkat and not them, since it seemed that even Kankri had wanted to make conversation with you and then disappear to the kitchen without putting forth the effort it took to summon his brother. Then again, at the very least Kankri had the daily interaction that you didn't really have with Karkat for his entire life, so he probably knew how he would react to someone coming inside downstairs. Maybe just your existence would peak his interest.

And alas, after a minute, a rather short, grumpy teenage boy emerged from his room and came downstairs, already yelling about something, "For fuck's sake, it's nice to know nobody wanted to tell me who came inside!" He sighed and shook his head. "Well, who is i--" He stopped both moving and talking when he saw you, and you smiled awkwardly at him as Kankri came in from the kitchen, likely to scold him for his mouth; you were right, of course.

"Language, Karkat." What shocked you was that Karkat didn't even tell Kankri to fuck off, he just started walking toward you, and you were almost startled when he was right in front of you and almost immediately pulling you into a hug within a few steps. You hugged him back, of course, and he was just as warm as you'd remembered him being-- possibly even warmer-- and he smelled of cherries and you didn't think you were going to when you'd first come here but you might actually cry because of how big he'd gotten and everyone, including yourself, had gotten so old. It was hard for you to believe that Nepeta was fifteen and that Kankri was in college now, or at least, he was old enough that he could have been. You buried your face in his chest and you swore, you never wanted to let go. And it took you a minute, it took you a _long_ minute, but eventually you both took a step back and just stared at one another for a moment before you looked at Kankri and whatever snacks he had brought, and you were shocked to find that there were cookies resting on the plate. You took a second to privately wonder if he'd just had those on hand.

After he'd put the plate down, you had an idea, and grinned wickedly at him. Having known you since you were six meant that he had witnessed a lot of your shenanigans, but when his face didn't show anything but that he was a bit... startled, you contemplated whether or not his reaction was even disproportionate to what you'd done in the past. You liked to think you were more of a pest than that. Nevertheless, you quickly snuck up on him (from in front of him, of course) and wrapped your arms loosely around his chest, figuring that there was nothing worse you could do to Kankri than subject him to physical contact.

He seemed more surprised than anything, and soon hugged you back, which was what really got you. It wasn't long before you were shaking in his arms, and now he had grown a shade paler and given Karkat a pleading look, and you were promptly removed from the older boy to cry into the shirt of your best friend, as he hugged you and patted your back and poorly attempted to reassure you without even knowing what was wrong. All of his guesses were wrong, too, because it wasn't because Kankri had hugged you or because you were in shock or because of anything anyone had said, it was really just because you were overwhelmed by how much everyone and everything had changed. You knew that you weren't seven anymore, and you'd even Skyped Karkat since then, but you guessed it just hadn't occurred to you that he would have gone through physical changes that were notable in person, or that Kankri had been growing up with you guys all along.

"Would you like some tea...? We have tea." You laughed at how awkward Kankri was and shook your head a bit, sniffling.

"No, thanks. I think I'm okay now."

He nodded a bit, "Well, if you do find yourself wanting some tea, you can just ask. I'm never low in stock and would love it if someone other than myself and occasionally mother and/or father would drink some." He shot a bitter glare at his siblings and you snorted; meanwhile, as if on cue, both of their parents emerged downstairs, Carina's hair a mess while Mr. Vantas (whose name you didn't really know) looked like he had just recently showered.

"Terezi!" You turned abruptly on your heel when your name was called, and grinned at Mr. Vantas. The two of you had gotten along rather well since you were a child and he was... well, he was younger, and probably a lot more abstinent. His arms, as long and somewhat muscled (they were muscled in that way where you knew that they were strong and probably had lots of experience carrying things, but were still awkwardly not-chiseled) as they were as the day you'd first met him, stretched out in a way you recognized as him asking for a hug, if only because you'd received the same gesture from your own father every day he'd come home from work back when he was alive. Your embrace was short, but filled with as much warmth as could be condensed into such a brief transaction.

"Azarel," the sound came from Carina, and she looked genuinely concerned, "who is this?" Her black hair was already wild and curly, and the fact that she had very plainly been in bed for a few days straight had not helped with taming it, so even though you should have cared what she was saying, you really had trouble with it, since she just appeared so crazy and hard to listen to. Or maybe it was just because Karkat and Kankri hated her. Yeah, it was probably that.

"Hm? Oh, that's right! You two haven't met. This is Terezi, our son's best friend, her sister Latula was one of Kankri's friends back in New York, and they all met in a park when the older kids were nine; Terezi, this is Carina, Karkat's mother."

Neither of you extended a hand to shake like he seemed to expect you to, but she did smile cheerily at you when you nodded a greeting in her general direction, as you would have expected her to. Generally, when you're a mom, it's hard for you to accept anyone who may want to court your child, even if you're a particularly bad mom. It wasn't like you had any plans to court Karkat in the near future, but you supposed it was a valid concern on her part.

It was awkwardly quiet for a minute, before Kankri (of course he would be the one to cut off the silence) cleared his throat. "Well, now that everyone's nice and familiar with one another and everything's grown awkward, I assume the two of you came down to get another cup of tea? Or perhaps you'd actually like to spend time with your children?" Karkat's fist clenched at his side and every muscle in their mother's body seemed to simultaneously tense, causing their father to look over at her while everyone else stared at the usually quiet and polite young man in a mix of hazy confusion and mild terror, trying to figure out why he was seemingly so bitter. Of course, you and Karkat knew, and Karkat even felt sympathy, but it seemed that their parents and their sisters were all actually lost. Even Kanny seemed surprised with himself, if his breathing and what smelled like slight perspiration were any indication. "I mean, it would be nice if you two weren't upstairs all day." He pursed his lips tightly before he went on to say anything else he'd likely regret, but you knew it was too late; Karkat and Nepeta would never be able to receive the talking back lecture ever again.

Azarel (you supposed that was his name?) opened his mouth, apparently to lecture his son, but their mother cut him off. "Perhaps he's right, Az. We have spent an astonishing amount of time upstairs, and it appears the kids just finished a movie, so maybe we should stay down here and play a board game with them or something." This, for you, was crossing a line. You had thought it was awesome when Kankri stood up to his parents for the first time, and you felt that after everything he had put up with throughout his life from his mother, he had every right to defend himself and his siblings' right to spend time with the woman, or at least with the man she had been keeping upstairs, but now he was taking away your personal time you had chosen to spend with Karkat. You were practically being forced to play board games with them.


	3. Board Games

The Vantas-Leijon family was one of many poor, innocent families to be destroyed by your skill at Monopoly. You were actually pretty sure Vriska's family had burned the board, but even Aranea refused to admit that she knew what had happened to it, so you were stuck with your educated guess.

Everyone stared nervously at Azarel as he rolled the dice, and when they dropped to reveal a two and a four, you pouted, because that meant that he would be landing on a Chance space. You grinned at the card that he drew, and, much to your surprise, he grinned as well. His piece moved a fair way around the board, and he dropped the bowler hat onto the sad image of a wrinkled man clinging to bars labelled "IN JAIL" in all capital letters.

Carina was the next to pick up the dice, eyeing her place on Ventnor Avenue before beginning the shaking of her hands, the dice clacking together in their fleshy prison as the numbers repeatedly shifted (not that any of you could see them) before she dropped them on the board, and they revealed a seven. She moved the dog in anticipation, all of you watching to see where she landed (well, not you, you knew where she would land the second her number was whispered to you by Karkat). She finally slumped a bit when she landed on Pennsylvania Avenue and you held out a hand to receive your twenty-eight Monopoly dollars. 

"There's no way you aren't cheating!" Karkat finally exploded, and you nearly flinched before just raising a brow. "You're _blind,_ how can you even see the board?!" 

"I don't have to see the board to know where the pieces are! I know where every single property is, just remembering the numbers you guys roll and where you land makes it ridiculously easy to keep track of you. Your dad's in jail, Kanny's on Boardwalk, Nep's on St. James Place, we're both on B &O Railroad, and Carina just landed on Pennsylvania Avenue."

"How do you know where every single property is, then? You've been blind practically as long as you could think, it must have been hard to remember the spots that you couldn't see! And even then, there's no way that you and Kankri together can own practically the entire board, we have to have the luckiest rolls ever not to go bankrupt, I'm sure that you're cheating somehow! How do you know the board so well?"

You smiled sadly before you answered, staring down at where your hands now rested on your lap, "My dad taught me... Back when I was little, when we first moved to New York, we used to have a family game night every Tuesday because my parents thought Tula and I were mad at them for making us move and thought that it would bring us all closer. I guess they didn't realize that we were six and nine and didn't really think too much about holding a grudge for leaving Russia... I do miss it, and I did then, but it just wasn't that big a deal because aside from the language change and the going from the smallest town ever to one of the biggest ones," You knew you were exaggerating, but it had seemed that way to a little kid, "nothing was too different." After a moment of quiet, Karkat tugged you against his side, resting his chin on your head.

It was awkwardly silent for a long while, and even Carina, who had no idea why you seemed so sad, didn't say anything. Eventually, Kankri piped up, "Is anyone else no longer in the mood for Monopoly, or is that just me?" You laughed and nodded a bit, moving with Nepeta to help him pack up the game. You collected houses and pieces, because Kankri wanted the cards to be organized and knew you wouldn't know what order to put them in. Nepeta just threw the money into the box haphazardly.

After a couple of hours you decided it might be a good idea to go home, because you had just been informed by Nepeta that the sun was starting to go down, meaning that A. you had been playing Monopoly for a really long time, and B. the furniture guys had either finished or left.

* * *

You sighed when you got to the house, the aroma of your old home coming off in waves from the furniture, making you sort of want to cry. Instead you just shoved the feeling down to the pit of your stomach and climbed the stairs to your bedroom, grinning at the smell of the furniture filling the room and quickly plopping down in the chair in front of your desk (after locating it). Your laptop rested on the wood and you opened it, before turning it on and waiting for it to power up. You couldn't help but groan when you heard the annoying notification that you needed to install updates, and listened as it slowly restarted, before going to the blue screen informing you of how many updates had been installed so far. Finally, you logged in, but were quickly bombarded by a message on Trollian.

terminallyCapricious [TC] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC] at 18:56.

TC: hEy My MoThErFuCkIn WiCkEd SiStEr. :o)   
TC: HoWs It GoIn AlL uP iN mIcHiGaN oR wHaTeVeR mIrAcLe PlAcE yOuRe At?   
GC: 1T W4S M1NN3SOT4, 4ND 1M 4CTU4LLY 1N S4N D13GO NOW!   
TC: Aw No WaY tErEsIs! ThAtS wHeRe I aLl Up AnD mOtHeRfUcKiN aM!   
GC: 1 KNOW! W3V3 T4LK3D 4BOUT 1T   
GC: R3M3MB3R?   
TC: aW sHiT :oO   
TC: tHaT wAs ToDaY?   
TC: i MeAnT tO fUcKiN bE tHeRe, SiS, i SwEaR.   
GC: 1TS OK4Y, G4MZ33   
GC: W3LL H4V3 PL3NTY OF OPPORTUN1T13S TO H4NG OUT 1N TH3 FUTUR3!    
GC: BUT W4S TH3R3 4 R34SON YOU W3R3 M3SS4G1NG M3?   
TC: hUh?   
TC: Oh! RiGhT, sHiT.   
TC: aW, sOrRy TeReCiTa.   
TC: I aLl Up AnD mOtHeRfUcKiN fOrGoT wHaT i WaS gOnNa SaY.   
GC: 1TS F1N3   
GC: YOULL JUST H4V3 TO T3LL M3 L4T3R WH3N YOU R3M3MB3R!   
GC: 1N TH3 M34N T1M3, THOUGH, 1 TH1NK 1M GONN4 SHOWER 4ND TRY TO H34D TO SL33P   
TC: rIgHt.   
TC: YoU hAvE a GoOd MoThErFuCkIn NiGhT sIs.   
GC: W1LL DO   
GC: YOU TOO, G4MZ33

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling terminallyCapricious [TC] at 19:23.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may be able to tell that I do not write Gamzee.


	4. Skateboard

You were to start at public school for the first time in your life in three days, and Latula was off to college in a week, so the two of you had decided that any time that wasn't spent with your respective friends was to be spent with each other, so it wouldn't be too unbearable to be apart (as if you were going to miss the arguments and bright orange hair in your brush). The part that you enforced extremely heavily was the "wasn't spent with your respective friends" part, and she seemed to respect that, and even retaliate, not wanting you there when she was hanging out with Aranea or Meenah or even Kurloz, though he was only really around when Mituna was.

That was why it was such a shock to you when she asked you if you wanted to come skateboarding with her and her boyfriend. You hadn't gone with your sister (or Mituna, for that matter) when she was skateboarding since you were about twelve; Mituna had gotten into a major accident and you had been too scared, and Latula didn't really want you to go anymore. So the fact that she was not only inviting you on a date but on a _skateboarding_ date was very special to you, and you recognized how hard it must have been for her to come to terms with the fact that she was leaving and she didn't have much time left with you. This was pretty much the only reason that you actually accepted, despite being scared and not owning a skateboard and not wanting to interrupt their time together even though they'd soon be living together, on top of a million other excuses that you could have used to get her to step off and leave you alone in the house while your mother worked.

Tuna and Tula waited patiently enough on the front porch (though you could definitely hear him complaining about having to settle down on the porch swing) while you got your shoes and phone. They even boarded slowly so you didn't get too far behind, though without a guide to know when they were turning, Latula had to repeat her shouts a few times so you didn't get lost. After all, if one of them had tried to grab your hand, you probably would have just ended up dragged along on the ground.

"Just remember, there's a bench a few feet away from the actual skating part of the skate park that you can sit on if you wanna, or we can stop by Tuna's to see if his brother will let you use his board. Sol's pretty chill, so I'm sure he will. You guys are friends, right? Hell, you can just message him on Trollz or whatever!"

You huffed at her improper naming, but nodded and began the slow process of opening Trollian on your phone.

Once it was open, you had to tap at the screen a few times before you got his name (you supposed you were hitting the space next to it, because it wasn't as if any other conversations had been started) and were able to message him. He was idle, but you knew Sollux and he wasn't idle because he had actually gone out or something, he was idle because he was focused on coding or something in another window and had forgotten that Trollian even existed. He would probably be back on shortly after he heard the notification saying that someone had started messaging hi-- and there he was.

gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] at 14:49.

GC: OK4Y W31RD QUST1ON  
TA: 2hoot.  
GC: 4S YOU SHOULD KNOW, MY S1ST3R 4MD YOUR BROTH3R 4R3 ON 4 D4T3  
GC: W1CH TH3Y DO 4 LOT  
GC: 4ND TH3YR3 GO1G SK41TNG  
GC: 4ND TH3Y 1NV1T3D M3  
TA: and you want two u2e my board?  
GC: Y3S PL34S3  
TA: but why?  
TA: you dont even liike two board!  
TA: you make a 2uper huge deal out of how much you diisliike 2kateboardiing.  
GC: THYR3 L34V1NG FOR COLL3G3 1N 4 W33K 4ND 1 W4NT TO SP3 T1M3 W1TH H3M?  
TA: two many typo2.  
TA: can not compute.  
GC: SHUT UP  
GC: 1M ON MOB1L3  
TA: 2o? doe2nt giive anybody el2e trouble.  
GC: >:I   
TA: what?  
GC: C4N 1 US3 YOUR BO4RD OR NOT?  
TA: why dont you ju2t 2iit on the bench or 2omethiing?  
GC: 1 4LWYS S1T ON TH3 B3NCH!  
GC: 1V3 N3V3R 3V3N N33M N 4 SK4T3BO4RD B3FOR3!  
TA: fiir2t tiime bliind boarder? a2k your 2ii2ter two take pics.  
GC: DO3S TH4T M34N YOULL L3T M3 US3 YOUR BO4RD?  
TA: 2iigh.  
TA: ii gue22.  
GC: Y3S!  
GC: TH4NK YOU SOLLUX!  
GC: 1 PW3 YPU

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmegeddons [TA] at 14:55.

"It took a lot of arguing, and I mean a _lot_ of arguing, like, approximately a metric fucktonne, but I got permission. So we stop by Mituna's and then the park? Or is there something you wanna do before or in between?" You raised a brow at them, and found that they were a couple of yards ahead of you, staring as you messaged Sol.

"Rad! We're ready to go to Tuna's whenever you are, sis. Also, you make the weirdest faces when you message people, like you're tryin' to figure out a joke but you haven't quite got it yet."

You rolled your eyes and began to walk forward, and they waited a minute for you to catch up before slowly beginning to push themselves forward. You were aware that the walk to Mituna's house was a much longer walk than the walk to Karkat's, but at the same time, you were pretty sure it was worth getting the time in before she left you to major in Photography at some school too far away for her to just come home every day. You wondered how your mother would get to work.

* * *

You had stopped for a minute to talk to Sollux when you stopped by to "steal" (for certain values of the word) his skateboard, before carrying it across the street to the sidewalk and resting it on the ground. Their house happened to rest at a slight downhill angle, or at least, the street and sidewalk near their house did, so you had to quickly chase it down before it got too far away from you and rest your foot on it, shakily climbing on. The board wobbled slightly underneath you, or maybe that was just your imagination (or shaking legs). Hesitantly, with both feet on the board, you moved one to rest on the sidewalk to propel yourself forward, and you very nearly fell flat on your face while your sister and Tuna waited on the street for you to get a feel for it and Sollux watched from the garage, camera phone ready.

It took you a few tries to get used to it, but eventually you decided that you were capable of skateboarding all the way to the park without falling off the board or having some other calamity occur. There were some uneven places on the sidewalk where you almost went flying, as the board bumped into a sudden lift in the sidewalk, but instead you just wobbled, restored your balance, and started to push yourself forward again in the direction of the park. You didn't trust yourself to ride in the street yet, certain that you would get hit by a car or otherwise injure yourself, but you were beginning to get a hang of how this worked. Sollux couldn't be smug about you falling on your face, at the very least, because you hadn't; you were a blind girl who could skateboard on her own with no tutorial.

* * *

"I first decided to do Photography when I was like twelve, I guess, a year or two before I started dating Tuna, but a couple of months after I met him and Loz. Kurly Friez wasn't sure what he wanted to be, or at least, I didn't know the sign language to understand what he was saying he wanted to be, but like, the finger movements have changed since then so I'm pretty sure it's different now? Probably something pretty rad, though, like a rocket scientist or some biz. Anyway, when I talked to mom about it, she was like, 'You're so insensitive, your sister is blind and you just wanna wave pictures under her nose all of the time?' Like, come on mom, you know that's not what I'm saying. I just think that old like Polaroid pictures and stuff are pretty fascinating, and one of the best presents I've ever gotten was that old camera from babushka and dedushka with like some of their wedding pics." You nodded as you listened to your sister ramble a bit, making a face at the part where your mother used your blindness as an argument.

You were all too familiar with this argument. Your mother and sister had been arguing about whether or not Latula could go to college to be a Photographer since you were nine, and they hadn't reached an agreement until you were about fifteen, a little under a year ago. Your mother finally agreed to it when she announced that you were moving and Latula casually mentioned that the University of California, Los Angeles had a relatively cheap Photography program, and pointed out that Mituna would be going there for the Game Design and Development courses. After two weeks of arguing, your mother submitted.

"That'th bullthit, TZ doethn't mind tho her argument ith crap." Tula snorted before pecking Mituna's forehead, while your eyes widened a bit. "My dadth inthithted I go to college when I wath like theventeen, but I didn't really care what I did. Eventually I jutht chothe game dethign becauthe it thounded cool and I know Thollux would have a ton of fun bragging to hith friendth about hith game dethigner brother thome day."

"I know, baby, I know. I bet Sol's real proud of ya, even if he doesn't say anything. I mean, he's just like that, he doesn't really show affection or any sorta emotion, just assumes that you'll know how he feels, even though he knows you have trouble with that sort of thing since the accident."

The three of you had stopped skateboarding so she could patch Mituna up after he fell off of his board and scraped up his knees really badly. Despite her saying that it was fine and he could still board, you were pretty sure that her reassurances meant nothing and the three of you would be leaving to go get ice cream anyway. You weren't sure he was going to complain, though.

You fiddled with a single loose chip of wood, if you could even call it that, on the bottom of the board while she laid a band-aid on one of the less severe scratches, and proceeded to wrap one of his knees in ACE Bandage on a much more major one. He was hissing and whining incoherently while she worked on him, but he generally quieted down when your sister shushed him, and you had to admit that you admired her patience when it came to Tuna. Having known your sister since she was practically a toddler, you knew that she wasn't exactly the poster child for patience. She was wild and free-spirited and daring and she liked things to be fast-paced and risky, so the fact that she was willing to give up her boarding for the day to patch up her brain-damaged boyfriend and take him and her sister out for ice cream was pretty amazing to you, even if it probably wouldn't have been to other people. You couldn't help but jump a bit when you felt your phone buzz in your pocket, meaning that you had either just gotten a text, gotten a message on Trollian, or your mom was calling you.

You practically sighed in relief when a swipe of the screen took you to Trollian, with a single notification. You almost sighed in relief a second time when it was Karkat's familiar monotonous grey, all-caps text as opposed to Sollux's mustard words.

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC] at 15:57.

CG: WHERE ARE YOU?  
CG: I STOPPED BY YOUR HOUSE AND YOUR MOM ANSWERED THE DOOR, SHE JUST SAID THAT THE GIRLS WERE "OUT."  
GC: 4W, W3R3 YOU WORR13D 4BOUT M3?  
CG: I MOST CERTAINLY WAS NOT.  
CG: I JUST WANTED TO HANG OUT AND DIDN'T KNOW IF YOU WERE HANGING OUT WITH YOUR SISTER TODAY. IF YOU ARE THEN I CAN JUST PLAY VIDEO GAMES WITH SOL OR SOMETHING, IT'S NOT EVEN THAT BIG A DEAL.  
GC: YOU W3R3 TOT4LLY WORR13D 4BOUT M3!  
GC: 1 4M H4NG1NG OUT W1TH TUL4, TH4NKS  
GC: BUT 1 COULD H34D TH4T W4Y 4FT3R 1C3 CR34M!  
GC: 1S YOUR MOM TH3R3?  
CG: NO.  
CG: THE GIRLS WENT HOME.  
CG: IT'S JUST ME AND KANKRI.  
GC: WH3R3S YOUR D4D?  
CG: HE WENT GROCERY SHOPPING.  
CG: HE'LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU GET HERE.  
GC: 4R3 YOU SUR3 4BOUT TH4T?  
GC: WH4T 1F 1M 4LR34DY H3R3?  
GC: OOPS, 1 M34N TH3R3  
GC: OR DO 1?  
CG: YOU AREN'T.  
CG: ...  
CG: YOU AREN'T.  
GC: D1D YOU JUST CH3CK?  
CG: NO.  
GC: Y3S  
CG: TEREZI I'M NOT DOING THIS TODAY. ARE YOU COMING OVER OR NOT?  
GC: BLUH, 1LL B3 OV3R SHORTLY  
GC: W1TH CH3RRY 1C3 CR34M!  
GC: YOUR F4VOR1T3  
CG: I HATE CHERRIES.  
CG: THAT'S YOUR FAVORITE.  
GC: SHH  


gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 16:14.


	5. School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was made possible by my friend Finny's grandpa's cat, Taffy.
> 
> "Do it for Taffy."

"Class, today we have a new student. Her name is Terezi Pyrope. Would you like to tell one interesting fact about yourself?" Your biology teacher's voice was oozing with oversaturated sweetness, like honey if you poured a cup of sugar into it, and you could tell that she hated you, and probably all of the other students sitting in this classroom.

"Я всех вас ненавижу. Вы все идиоты, и половина из вас, вероятно, не суметь этого класса."

"...Very well put." Your teacher cleared her throat, not understanding a word of what you'd just said. Vriska snickered as you approached the seat the teacher pointed to, as you were pretty sure she was the only other person in the room who spoke Russian to understand what you had just said.

In the time it had taken you to approach the seat, Sollux and Vriska had seemed to have found something to bicker about, while Aradia doodled away on the corner of her paper, which likely also contained notes. You caught the tail end of Vriska's rebuttal to something you were sure was in some ancient runic snark language that you hadn't yet learned fluently. "...en, Bee-brain, this is the only class other than gym that I'm not failing, trust me say that a symbiotic relationship does not require physical contact."

"Clearly you don't remember the definition of a thymbiotic relationship, because a thymbiotic relationship ith one that requireth both creatureth to be reliant on each other, generally becauthe they eat the prey of the other thing, and the other one giveth it a home, like rhinoth and that one bug."

"Do you even remember the other example? Remoras follow sharks and eat scraps of their food, while the sharks' lives are extended since the remoras eat parasites."

"How nice of you to join us, Terezi." Both of them seemed to snap out of their argument when Aradia announced your presence, in a way, and Vriska smirked at you while Sollux just huffed and rolled his eyes, staring over Aradia's shoulder to see what she was drawing. Or maybe it was to stare at her notes, who knew? Listening to the voices in the room for a moment to get an idea of who was in this class that you knew, you heard Kanaya at a table with a girl who you supposed must have been Rose and two boys that you didn't think you'd heard of.

A part of you wished that Karkat didn't go to Catholic school, partially because you wanted him to be there with you to help you adapt to your first day at public school, and partially because you knew that he didn't want to be there; his father and brother were both Jewish, and he was an atheist, but his mother had agreed that she wouldn't demand Azarel send them to school in San Fransisco if he had them go to Catholic school, with the added note that she would pay for it. Being that he didn't only want to see his sons during the summer, when their mother hadn't even wanted them anyway, he begrudgingly agreed, and Karkat attended Saint Augustine High School instead of going to public school with you. It would have been more convenient for him to go to Garfield, though, as he lived much closer to it than his school.

"I haven't seen you since we were practically toddlers! How've things been since the last time we talked in person, Terezi?" Vriska's attempt at being friendly, while somewhat appreciated, was mostly futile, being that you and she both knew that you had been keeping up through Trollian since you were twelve, even if you hadn't necessarily been happy with her at that point in your life. You still weren't certain you forgave her for the blindness thing.

"Vriska, we talked over Trollian a week ago, and we have been keeping up through the power of the internet for four years. The seven years of my life that you missed out on are hardly even memorable excepting Aunt Lena's coma, the move to the US, and my dad's death, and I think I did my best to catch you up back then."

She pouted at that and returned to her notes, with Sollux quickly scribbling across his mostly blank paper, occasionally looking up to copy the exact wording from Aradia's doodle-filled sheet. You had been excused from note-taking for your first week until you could figure out a way to properly get the information copied down, so for now, you just listened to your teacher's word vomit, stuffing your boredom to the back of your mind. You could smell bubblegum and sharpie from the pink dry erase marker she was using to drawl in girlish handwriting across the board the words that were coming out of her mouth so students who weren't paying as much attention as they should could copy from the board, but the only words you could make out were 'Peixes' and 'predation'.

"A predation relationship is a relationship in which one of the creatures is a predator, or an animal that feeds on other animals in its ecosystem slash habitat, and the other animal is prey, or an animal that is fed on by a predator in its ecosystem slash habitat. The other two forms of relationships are competitive, where two different creatures require the same nutrient or material and must compete with the other creature to get a larger supply or a more quickly re-stocked supply of the nutrient or material, and symbiotic, where two different creatures either rely on one another to survive or choose to live together because they make life more comfortable for each other, but we learned all of this last week, so you numbskulls better not have forgotten this soon. An example of a predation relationship that we would witness in our environment would be the interaction between praying mantises and other insects, such as grasshoppers or lady bugs. Long story short, they murder them brutally and eat them. In this scenario, we can clearly see that the praying mantis is the predator, and other insects are the prey. In other examples, this can be less clear..."

Your biology teacher was funny enough, but the 52-year-old wasn't exactly the best at keeping your attention by droning on about how sometimes things eat other things, as if that wasn't the most basic and well-known fact of life in the universe. You had to hand it to her, though, she wasn't as boring as you had originally hypothesized she would be, to use a science term.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Я всех вас ненавижу. Вы все идиоты, и половина из вас, вероятно, не суметь этого класса."  
> Translation: "I hate you all. You're all idiots, and half of you are probably failing this class."


	6. Vinegar and Peroxide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for this chapter: Physical violence/abuse.

There's a certain smell that hangs on to the air when someone tries to lie, or when someone is guilty; it's like vinegar and peroxide, leaving a stinging sensation in your nose and the back of your throat.

"I've been clean for two months, sis, I swear!" Gamzee was practically screaming at you as he continued to insist that he was, and had been for a while, sober, though the more he yelled at you, the more you doubted that he was telling the truth. Aside from the stench of his breath, his eyes (which you couldn't see, but could certainly smell) were watery and bloodshot. It was true that he wasn't as calm or lethargic as usual, but he was definitely high; maybe it was just on a different drug this time.

You had to take a step back with how close he was getting to your face, and you were pretty sure that somewhere though the overwhelming reek of illegal marijuana and body odor, you heard him growling at you. Somehow, despite being terrified internally, you managed to keep your cool externally, coolly responding with, "You can insist that you're sober all you want, but screaming and throwing a temper tantrum like a four-year-old isn't the method I would use to convince people of that fact." If you weren't blind, you wouldn't have been shocked to find your friend frothing at the mouth.

What did shock you was the fist suddenly flying at your face.

Clutching a hand to your jaw, you attempted to ignore the tears beginning to fill your eyes. The fact that Gamzee's face seemed to mirror your own horrified expression made you more pissed than the fact that he had just punched you in the face.

"I'm so sor--" You cut him off with a slap, one that filled the air with an almost aggressive _crack!_ The sound seemed to startle him almost as much as the action did, and he took a step back to observe your small frame and reddening hand as if to confirm what you had just done, or try to get an idea of who had just done it. When he began to move toward you again, you cautiously moved backward in time with his steps.

In what you assumed was an attempt to get you to stop walking, he reached out while you were mid-step and seemed to pluck your arm from the air, tugging you toward him, which in turn caused you to trip over yourself and almost fall. His method of catching you seemed to be to twist your arm and hope it didn't break, as opposed to doing anything actually helpful such as moving his other arm behind your back. In the end, you ended up awkwardly halfway between having fallen and standing upright, to the point where you would have fallen if he let go, but wouldn't be able to stand if he didn't help you up. He seemed to realize what he was doing after a moment and let you go, causing you to fall on the floor but also allowing you to move your arm from its previously twisted position, freeing you from the pain from before.

He grasped at your wrist as you turned to leave, but just barely missed, causing him to stumble for a moment before you finally escaped the hellish park you had previously been hanging out in. You had originally been with a few other friends, but Vriska ditched you and Aradia had to go. You couldn't remember what had gotten the two of you onto the topic of his drug addiction, but you did remember that the argument had gotten pretty intense and led you to where you were now, AKA hoping that your recently acquired injuries wouldn't bruise.

* * *

You couldn't decide if the pain in your arm was a stinging or throbbing pain as you moved to open the door, maybe it was even both, but you were certain that if your mother was to question you about it and actually learn what had happened, she was going to take you to the hospital. Being that the hospital didn't sound like the best place, you chose to just pretend that you were fine, even as you winced raising your arm to wave to your mother.

"I'm home!" Your announcement was not a shock to either of you, and you were sure she had even been expecting it, so she just waved you into the kitchen. You were still slowly adjusting to Latula no longer living with you, as you were so used to her already sitting at the table and complaining about how slow you and mom were to getting to the table that you almost called yourself a rotten egg.

When you sat at the table, your mom grabbed a bowl and began to fill it with some sort of traditional stew, which either meant that she had bad news or your grandparents were visiting, and you were pretty sure that you hadn't heard your grandmother upon entering. She sat across the table from you with a sigh, not only a sigh but a shaky sigh, and you knew you were in for it. "Terezi, I have some... news." The way that she said it, hesitant and dull, only reminded you of when she told your sister and you when you were young that your father was dead, only she was crying much less this time. "Your grandfather called while you were out; apparently, because her condition hasn't improved in the last decade, your grandparents called the hospital this morning to let them know to pull the plug on your aunt."


	7. 5 Steps

You stayed tense for a long moment, before just shaking your head and starting to sloppily shovel the stew into your mouth. You ignored the concerned look your mother was giving you, as you didn't want to know if it was because of the fact that you were eating with your right hand due to your dominant arm being injured, or if it was because you weren't crying or even really reacting. You weren't certain you even cared.

"Terezi...? Are you alright?" You glared up at her in response to her question, muttering that you were fine before returning to your food. You intended to eat it as quickly as you could so you could just wash your bowl and be alone in your room, and if that meant ignoring her so that you could focus on eating then you would ignore her.

She didn't say anything as you dropped your bowl in the sink and turned on the water, just zoning out as you listened to the noise, because at least it was something _real_ , it was an _escape_. You stood still there for a moment, digging your fingers into the counters on either side of you and just keeping your eyes closed tightly. Eventually, you were pulled out of your mind when your mother rested her cold hand on your shoulder and reminded you to turn off the sink, to which you nodded and reached to turn off the tap. You continued to stand there for a few seconds before turning on your heel and practically running up the stairs to your room, where Pyralspite laid on the floor under your bed in wait for your return. She happily stood and ran to you when you entered the room.

You laid on your bed after scratching between her ears for a second, suspended in disbelief. One of your hands hung off the bed as you just stared blankly at the ceiling, and if you weren't blind you were sure you'd be thoroughly observing it, attempting to take in every detail in the attempt to distract yourself. You hardly even noticed when she pranced over to you from her spot in front of the door, sniffing your hand curiously before welcoming herself to jump on the bed by your feet and nuzzle your legs desperately.

You didn't even blink at the sharp knock on your door, nor when your mother entered your room. You couldn't help but note that she left the door open, which Pyralspite ran out of, likely to whine at the back door until someone let her out.

"Terezi, would you like to talk?"

"Not really." You buried your face in your pillow, jumping a bit when your mother rested her hand on your shoulder and gave you a look that you knew meant that she was going to force you to talk about the problem. "I can't believe that they would just let her die like that! She was my aunt, your sister, _their daughter_! And it's like they didn't even care that she could have been saved, they just told the hospital to pull the plug as if every family in the world would give up after only ten years; they could afford to keep her in the hospital and have her taken care of but they didn't!"

The room was silent for a long moment, and you lifted your face from your pillow to breathe properly, only to be pulled into an embrace by your mother practically a second later, with no time to adjust. You let out a sharp breath and lifted your good arm to wrap around her, closing your eyes tightly and allowing the tears to just stream down your face as your mother shooshed you. After a long enough time, you shoved her away from you, because you could not put up with the pain of her holding your bad arm against your body as she hugged you, apparently thinking you had been crying because you were upset about the loss of your aunt. She stared at you for a long moment, obviously curious as to why you had just shoved your mother away from you when you were CLEARLY in emotional distress and needed her comfort, but you just sighed heavily and rubbed at your shoulder, which was now certainly throbbing. In that moment she seemed to realize how swollen it had felt when she hugged you and moved to feel your arm, ignoring your wince as she thoroughly observed it in the attempt to get an idea of how badly injured you were.

"I'm taking you to the hospital." She pulled you to a standing position, and you glared.

"I dunno, what if grandma and grandpa decide I'm not recovering fast enough and tell the doctors to just let me die?" She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes at you in an exaggerated way, as if to let you know that you were being dramatic.

"First of all, Terezi, you aren't going to be on life support for an injured arm, so it wouldn't be possible for doctors to pull the plug to let you die, as you so elegantly put it. And second of all, even if you were going to be put on life support, your grandparents wouldn't have the authority to tell the doctors that."

"They shouldn't have the authority to let anyone just die, but no one tried to stop them when they said that the doctors could take my aunt off of life support! I'm pretty sure that there's laws against just ending the life of an innocent human being and yet someone gave these two people the authority to wipe a beautiful, funny, intelligent person off the face of the Earth like an unimportant insect!"

"No one said your aunt was an unimportant insect, Terezi. You are overreacting. Your grandparents made a reasonable decision--"

"Reasonable decision?! It's like you don't even care that your _sister_ is _dead_! Like, forever dead, and not just 'she could wake up' dead, because someone took away that opportunity!"

"Terezi Cecilia Pyrope! Of course I am upset that Lena is dead, she was my baby sister and I loved her. But it's not like we can exactly change what has already happened, your grandparents made a decision and no matter how upset about that decision _we both are_ , we can't change the outcome."

You didn't say anything as you just put your one good arm over your chest, leaving the hurt one laying limp at your side as your mother stared at you, and you weren't sure if she was analyzing you or just trying to decide what to say next. You almost hoped that she would keep yelling at you until she forgot about your arm and then wouldn't take you to the hospital so that you could just stay in bed and fume, since you really weren't in the mood to cooperate with doctors at that moment. You honestly weren't in the mood to cooperate with anyone, but if you were to tell your mother that she'd probably just get mad at you and ground you, and then force you to go to the hospital for your arm anyway because she wanted to make sure it wasn't broken.

Sighing through her nose, your mother turned on her heel and left your room, heels clacking against the hardwood floors as she made her way down the stairs before shortly returning to your room, phone and wallet in hand. "I just called a cab, we're going to the hospital and you're going to have to deal with the fact that you are injured and as your mother I am concerned for your well-being, whether or not you are upset with your babushka and dedushka, and whether or not you are upset with me."

* * *

"So, long story short, I might be gone for a little while because I have to fly out to Russia because that's where my grandparents are having her funeral even though she's going to be cremated in New York because they let her die." Aradia nodded knowingly, probably relating as all of her family lived outside of the United States, while Sollux and Vriska just exchanged a glance before Sollux rolled his eyes and his girlfriend (at least, you were pretty sure she was his girlfriend) smacked his arm. "So I'm going to ask Vriska to take notes for me since she seems to be the only one who actually cares about this class, shockingly. Or, more accurately, she's the only one who pays attention. When Sollux isn't starting an argument with Vriska, not that I can blame him, she's a huge bitch, he's making googly eyes at Aradia, and she's usually making googly eyes right back at him, so I'm going to go ahead and say that you two should care more about biology and that Vriska had better learn how to type up her notes really fast because I can't exactly read paper ones, now can I?" Vriska looked rather smug, while the other two at the table just blushed.

"Do you know how long you're going to be gone?" Aradia asked once she had seemed to recover, only half-paying attention to you as she stared down at a piece of paper covered in doodles of flowers and random scribbles that had almost taken shape. Occasionally on the smooth white surface there was a written note from Sollux in the attempt to get Aradia's attention so she'd pass notes with him in class, but they had clearly been ignored, except for one, reading, 'whats the answer to fourteen' in small, scratchy handwriting, with a response in a neat, larger cursive-style generally girlish handwriting that said '206, and the answer to fifteen is 207 since I know you'll ask immediately after reading it.'

"Two weeks, or at least, that's what my mom says. I don't visit my maternal grandparents a lot, I usually just talk to them over the phone, it's my dad's parents that I'm actually close to, so I don't know if she's going to make me stay that long or if I'm going to come back by myself or with Tula before then. I want to stay the full time because I want to visit home again and I want to actually spend the proper amount of time mourning my aunt, but I don't know how long my mom's willing to keep me out of school." There was a part of you, a very unreasonable part, that just wanted your aunt back. You would give anything to have her with you; whether it be at home, or visiting your grandparents, or even at school, you would kill for your aunt to just be back with you and Latula and your mom.

When you were six years old and had first discovered that your aunt was in a coma, your first question for your mom was why. You wanted to know why she wasn't able to fly out to hang out with you anymore, why you couldn't hear her laugh anymore, why your aunt was sleeping. Your dad had pulled you aside, away from your mom and your sister and your grandpa, who you could barely remember, and explained to you that sometimes people got very sick, like that time Latula had a really high fever and you had to rush her to the hospital when you were three. And sometimes, when people were sick, their bodies just couldn't handle the sickness anymore, so they shut down, and the sick person went to sleep, sometimes for a very long time. When you were little, it hadn't made sense to you, but as you grew older you'd grasped the concept of your aunt's brain cancer and come to accept that she probably wouldn't wake up; somehow, during that process, it hadn't occurred to you that never waking up meant that your aunt was probably going to die, whether it be an eventual death from natural causes or the doctors pulling the plug on her.

Rather quickly you realized that there wasn't anything that you could give to have your aunt back. It wasn't like you had ever thought that there was something you could do to magically make her alive again, but something in the back of your mind tried to convince you that if there was a God, you could do something and he'd give her back.

"...rth to Pyrope, are you listening to me?" You hadn't even realized that Vriska was talking to you. To be honest, you didn't care that much, entire body feeling sort of numb without actually being feelingless. It was like you had all of a sudden been hollowed out.

You slumped a bit, before resting your head on the table and shutting out the world. You realized that you couldn't exactly sit here for the rest of the school day because you had other classes that you would have to get to eventually, but for now, you couldn't handle reality. You were sure that the second you decided to tune back in to the real world, you'd receive even more bad news, not that you were certain what else could possibly go wrong with your life.

* * *

"You're sure you're going to be okay? I can talk to my dad, he won't mind having you stay with us for the next couple of weeks while your mom and Latula go out to Russia. I'll sleep on the couch, you can have my roo--"

"Karkat. Calm down. I'm going to be fine." The smile that you gave him was fake, and he knew it was fake, but he had to nod and let you go anyway, hugging you tightly, or as tightly as he could whilst also being wary of your sprained shoulder and arm. When he pulled away, he stared at your face, lingering there for almost a full minute before finally taking a step back and allowing you to join your mother and sister by the door with your bags as your mother finalized plans with Karkat's dad.

He cleared his throat and looked at all three of you before focusing on your mother once more, "So, I'll be returning here on the 27th to pick up the three of you?" Your mother simply nodded her confirmation as you waved goodbye to Karkat (again) and your sister tried her best not to giggle beside you. "Excellent, I'll mark my calendar when we get home." He turned to leave before pausing, turning around and rushing to hug you and Latula before he went. "I'm sorry for your loss, I never met Lena but I am sure she was a wonderful woman, if she's anything like your mother, or either of you two young ladies. I'll see you in two weeks." You sniffled and nodded, hugging him back before entering the airport behind your small family so you could catch your plane; your grandfather would pick you up to take you the rest of the way to your small hometown.


	8. Lonely

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter from Karkat's POV. Let's hope I don't fuck this up too horribly...

Scrolling through shitty online forums was a habit you had developed, likely of at least some thanks to your brother, though it was certainly an aneurysm-inducing hobby when it came to finding the opinion of some shitty ten-year-old that you just had to argue with. You couldn't exactly afford the long-distance calls to Terezi you wanted to make, especially not ones that lasted hours, so you were pretty much stuck with talking to these fuckers, occasionally messaging Sollux. You'd been avoiding Gamzee since he started acting weird like a week ago; you were pretty sure he had stopped taking whatever drug he had been on before, and you weren't certain you liked the effects of that. In fact, it was possible you disliked the effects of him being off the drugs more than the effects of him being on them.

"Listen, shitmaggot. You are so wrong that I could probably write an entire fucking New York Times Best-Selling novel on how wrong your dumbass theory is..." You muttered the words under your breath as you typed them, jumping and almost pressing the enter key when your brother entered your room without even knocking.

"Karkat, I am not exactly certain what is so important that it is keeping you awake until two in the morning on a Sunday night, but I urge you to at least attempt to get some sort of rest before four. I am aware that you miss your friend and that must be causing trouble in your adolescent mind, but as you grow I think you will find that adults handle this sort of situation much better and do not cause this much harm to their sleeping schedules when their friends go out of town."

You groaned and attempted to drain him out as you returned to typing your rant, and he seemed to quickly realize that you were tuning him out, or at least, more quickly than he usually realized you weren't listening to him. In response he crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot impatiently as you finished up with your rant before you spun around in the swivel-y chair to face him so you could properly tell him to fuck off. Before you had the chance, he opened his mouth to speak with you, closed it again, and just left. Apparently, making eye contact was a Kankri repellent. You'd have to take note of that for future reference, though it wasn't necessarily shocking that Kankri, the second oldest of the four of you and the brother who had actually been partially raised by your mother, would have some cat-like behaviors.

Sighing, you just sat still for a moment, staring at the door that had been left open before standing up to close it and return to your computer. When all of this had been done, you saw that the kid you had been arguing with responded, but you didn't really feel like reading what he had said or saying something back to him just yet. Shutting down the proper way as opposed to just holding the power button until the device powered down, you moved away from your desktop and stretched out your limbs before sprawling out on your bed, staring at the top bunk that wasn't actually necessary.

You took a long moment to wonder what Russia was like.

The way Terezi had always described it to you, it was this vast, beautiful place, even if she did live in a small town, with lots of trees and an endless abundance of snow. One of the things you missed about New York was the snow; it was always parched here, with the occasional rain, but never snow.

Every time Terezi described it to you, which seemed to be every time that she got bored when you were younger, you listened, sometimes more excitedly than you had the first time because it was something she was so obviously passionate about. You had always wondered if she missed it. Truth be told, you had thought of Terezi Pyrope as someone you would have loved to be more than friends with since you were ten, but you had never thought that you should raise the issue with her.

It would be a week until she got back, and a long week, because you would have to live through the same old boring school week where every day at eight in the morning your teacher scolded Gamzee to tuck in his shirt, and you sat next to the looming tower of a person known as Equius, who always tried awkwardly to be friendly toward you because he was your sister's best friend, and then you put up with the same boring three and a half classes until lunch time, where you sat at a table with the least snobby kids you could find, plus Eridan. Namely, Equius and Feferi and her ten million friends, plus her stalker-- you mean Eridan. Then there were three and a half more hours of classes and you were free to go home, taking public transportation because you lived no where near the school your mother had decided that you and Kankri (who had graduated last year) absolutely needed to go to before finally locking yourself in room, lather, rinse, repeat.

Sleeping in jeans and fiddling with your hair (which had passed the point of "needs a trim" four months ago) until you passed out was practically the norm for you, both during the school year and during the summer. The only difference was the hours you slept, though you ironically slept more during the summer because you could sleep until noon when you stayed up until four. You were sure Terezi would try to keep your schedule in check, but as far as you were concerned, you did all of the sleeping that you needed for the week over the weekend, going to sleep as early as one in the morning and sleeping until at least 11:00, though sometimes even later.

* * *

"...was SO mad that she threatened to have me kicked off of the swimming team, like, for good! Well, obviously my mom wouldn't have that, and wasn't very happy with the fact that my history teacher was threatening to have me removed from a sports team that she runs and has full authority over. So she called the principal and..." You weren't too interested in Feferi's story, though apparently all of her friends from the swim team plus Eridan were totally enraptured by it, despite how completely fake the entire thing sounded to you. Gamzee seemed much more interested in the wall than the conversation, and Equius was the only person at the table who was actually eating their food, or at least, who was actively eating their food. You had poked at your... "pasta" a couple of times, but it hadn't really caught your interest.

You glanced down at your food, which seemed to have all morphed together into one mondo-noodle with a bit of solidifying cheese sauce. Poking at it with the fork and moving it around a bit, you sighed, which at least seemed to pull Gamzee's attention from the wall, though you weren't certain if that was because he was worried about you or just because you had made noise and he was practically a dog. But a particularly stupid dog.

"You all up and motherfuckin' okay, bro?" His grin was lazy, and while you were sort of happy that he was reverting back to his usual numbskull self, you sort of wished that there was a way to achieve this affect without him being on drugs.

Gamzee's speech had prompted Equius to look at you, and you muttered to yourself before just nodding, pushing yourself to a standing position. "I have to use the restroom, I'll be back in a minute." Equius nodded and returned to his tuna sandwich as Gamzee returned his gaze to the wall next to him, a bit of drool beginning to trail down to his jawline. You made a face as you made your way to the washroom, elegantly labelled in cursive white text as 'Male'. Thankfully, the bathroom was empty as you entered it, allowing you a clear path and clean air as you made your way to one of the four pristine sinks to wash your face.

You stared at the mirror, at the bags under your red eyes, and sighed deeply.

You tensed and focused on the door in the mirror when you heard someone enter behind you, a short boy who you didn't recognize. He gave a casual 'Hey' as he walked past you and to a urinal, and you gave a nod in response.

Unlike girls, guys didn't really go to the bathroom with friends. It was a pretty generally awkward experience, especially when you went to the bathroom as a retreat from the cafeteria and didn't really want to interact with people and then someone you didn't even know just happened to walk in. So when this guy walked in, through no fault of his own, you decided that maybe it was time to go back to the table with your... 'friends.' Feferi's friends.

You sat at the table with a sigh, ignoring what the rest of the occupants of the table were saying, assuming they were saying anything. You took a moment to glance around you at all of the people in the room. You were sure that it was smaller than most public schools, but it was still crowded.

You hadn't noticed before how lonely you could get in a crowded room. All of these people were around you, and you weren't sure you'd felt more alone in your life, aside from when Terezi first moved away and when you first moved from New York to California.

"So, Karkat, Meenah says she hasn't seen Kankri at university yet. She said she's shocked because he's pretty smart, is he at community college or just sitting around?"

"Why does it matter whether or not my brother is going to some fancy university? We both know that Meenah's not about to do anything with her shitty ass degree, who even KNOWS what she's getting it in, she's just going to end up as the same street thug she was all throughout middle school and high school, and we both know it. But if it really matters to you that fucking much, he's not in community college, and he's not just sitting around, he has a JOB, where he WORKS, so we can pay our rent so we don't end up homeless some day, LIKE YOUR SHITTY ASS SISTER IS PROBABLY GOING TO." Everyone at the table stared at you, excepting Gamzee, and most of their mouths were agape as you stood to go dump your tray so you could return to English.


	9. Airport

The plane ride back to the United States was long and boring, and you'd taken that time to catch up on your sleep, something you had been severely lacking over the past week or so. When you did manage to get sleep, it was only two or three hours of rest before you either woke yourself up or were woken up by your grandmother. While the visit was, for the most part, a good experience, the lack of sleep until early in the morning had almost completely thrown off your schedule, and you were reasonably worried about how you were going to wake up for school on your own this week.

At least you were finally home.

Your plane had arrived an hour ahead of schedule, which was probably the worst news you had ever received. Karkat was already unlikely to wake up at nine in the morning to pick you up with his dad, but eight was asking for a miracle, which you had been severely lacking in recent times.

You tapped your foot impatiently on the ground while plugging in your earbuds to listen to music at the airport. Your mother had texted his dad that your flight had showed up early, and since you had known Mr. Vantas to be a morning person since you were little, you were sure he was already awake when he got it and would be there shortly. The trouble was, you weren't the most patient, and didn't want to be stuck waiting for even the next twenty minutes until he saved you.

You had gone through half of your playlist when he finally did get there, and you could feel Latula's grin, which made you sort of nervous. You had just gotten back from a trip during which you had to go to your aunt's funeral, and your sister was grinning at you because your ride had just arrived at the airport so you could go home like she knew something that you didn't. You weren't going to ask, until you heard him, "It is too fucking early in the morning for you to be back in the United States." You almost shrieked, and you felt ridiculous when you literally threw yourself at him, somewhat surprised when he caught you and held you off of the ground, as if he wasn't one of the scrawniest people that you knew. Hint: he was. But you were also fairly scrawny, or at the very least were much smaller than you should have been at your age, weighing in at about a hundred pounds when you were sixteen years old and 5'2".

In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to press your lips to his and practically melt into him like you were a married couple who kissed on a regular basis, but in your defense, you hadn't even noticed you were doing it until he kissed back. You stayed there for a long moment, with his arms around you and your lips pressed together hopelessly but happily. When you pulled away, he was bright red in the face, and you were pretty sure you were too, but you tried your best to ignore it, just snickering at the shade of his face before returning your feet to a convenient position underneath you so you could return to the ground.

He got the message and put you down, swallowing nervously and letting his eyes linger on your face for what probably would have been too long if you weren't also staring at him, and everyone else there wasn't also staring between the two of you.

"Did you, um, meet any friends in Russia? Old ones or new?" His voice cracked in the middle of his speech, and you had to catch his arm so he didn't facepalm, shaking your head. You knew what he meant by the question, even if he didn't word it that way; 'Did you find someone to replace me?' You weren't dorky enough to bide into Karkat's romcom-loving side to explain to him in actual words coming out of your mouth that no one could replace him, but you hoped he got the message at this point.

He nodded, before taking your hand to lead you to his dad's car in the parking lot, since you were leaving now. Your mother and Latula whispered in Russian in front of you, too quiet for you to hear and too not-in-English for Karkat and his dad to understand so they could say anything in response. You weren't certain how his dad was reacting, but you knew your mother and she was probably having a heart attack right about now, though whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, you weren't sure. She may have been excited for you, because at least she knew this boy, or she may have been angry, because _since when was her baby kissing boys_? 

You were silent the whole car ride, Karkat as well, though you did lean on him while his dad drove you home, a very long twenty minutes.


	10. We Need To Talk

carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC] at 17:42.

CG: TEREZI.  
CG: DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT THE AIRPORT YESTERDAY?  
GC: 1 JUST W4NT TO FORG3T 1T 3V3R H4PP3N3D  
CG: LET ME RE-PHRASE THAT.  
CG: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT.  
GC: 1 JUST GOT 4 L1TTL3 3XC1T3D B3C4US3 YOUR3 MY B3ST FR13ND 4ND 1 D1DNT 3XP3CT YOU TO B3 TH3R3  
GC: 1T W4S 31GHT 1N TH3 MORN1NG, YOUR3 N3V3R 4W4K3 4T 31GHT 1N TH3 MORN1NG  
CG: TEREZI I WOULD WAKE UP AT TWO IN THE MORNING TO PICK YOU UP AT THE AIRPORT.  
GC: YOU WOULDNT 3V3N H4V3 GON3 TO SL33P Y3T!  
CG: YOU THINK I DIDN'T GO TO SLEEP AT A REASONABLE HOUR TO WAKE UP AT NINE IN THE MORNING SO I COULD GO WITH DAD? I WAS GROUCHY ABOUT WAKING UP AN HOUR EARLY BUT I DON'T HATE MYSELF THAT MUCH.  
GC: K4RK4T...  
CG: LIKE I SAID, WE NEED TO TALK.  
CG: JUST PLEASE COME OVER SO WE CAN ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT THIS FACE TO FACE.  
GC: K4RK4T

carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC] at 17:50.

You groaned when he ended the conversation without even listening to you. You were sixteen, you had known Karkat since you were six, and you weren't willing to tell him that you were pretty sure you had had a crush on him since you were twelve and he didn't sleep for three days watching every romcom in his possession. Still, you knew that you did have to talk to him about the day before eventually.

After another minute of arguing with yourself about whether or not you really needed to tell him, you decided that you couldn't never let him know that you'd had a crush on him for years. You sighed and grabbed your converse, struggling with tying them as your stomach did somersaults. You had considered telling him since the day you realized your feelings for him, but didn't think that you should interrupt his romcom fest, and since then any time you even thought about telling him, you quickly thought of some excuse so you didn't have to follow through with the idea. You explained to your mom that you were going to Karkat's when you went downstairs, and she raised her eyebrows at you. The disadvantage to kissing your best friend in front of your mom was that she was reluctant to let you go to his house, even though he had been the person you were closest to since you were practically a toddler. You _were_ still learning English.

When you started the walk to his house, you payed close attention to the number of shadows you walked through, thankful for the time of day making it easy to navigate. After passing four houses, you took a quick left and started to walk up his driveway to knock on the door, heart beating like a drum while you listened to rushing footsteps down the stairs before Karkat shouted a swear at Kankri and opened the door, huffing. You heard Kankri mutter about language before Karkat leaned on the door way in the attempt to seem cool, running a hand through his hair.

"Hey, I'm glad you came. I was actually... really worried you wouldn't..." His face darkened and he moved out of the way so you could enter the house, closing the door behind the two of you while you waved at his brother and headed up to his bedroom. The room was practically wallpapered with posters for various things you didn't understand, with a calendar by the door and a poster for his school with the word 'IDIOT' plastered on in red text hanging by his desk. You sat on his bed as he walked in, clearing his throat and sitting in the chair at his desk before rolling it so he was sitting across from you. "So, um... What was that...? At the airport yesterday?"

"It was--" You cut yourself off before you could say nothing, blushing and staring at your hands. "Um."

"Um? That's not a good sign, you never stutter." He moved to sit next to you on the bed, moving his hand under you chin and lifting your head so you were looking him in the face instead of having an intense staring contest with your hands. "Terezi, you can talk to me."

Without thinking, you moved your head forward, closing the four inch gap between you and pressing your lips to his. He tensed for a moment, before relaxing completely, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you against him as if he no longer wanted or needed an answer from you about how you felt. It took you a minute to pull away, and when you did you rested your forehead against his, taking a moment to catch your breath before whispering to him. "I like you. In a more than friends sort of way."

He laughed a bit, "Well that's a relief, I was hoping you weren't just kissing me because I was conveniently close enough and you didn't want to talk about it." You scoffed, and before you even added on that you had for four years and for some reason had only decided to tell him about it now, he started talking again. "I've had this huge crush on you since we were ten."

"Jeez, ten? I was only twelve, when you had that huge marathon of all your romcoms." He let out a snort, which was a marvel to you since _you_ were the one who snorted before you laughed, and pressed a kiss to your forehead, resting his chin on top of your head, if only to remind you of how much taller than you he was.

"So, when am I allowed to tell everyone that I scored you?" You paused for a moment, pulling away from your closeness to give him a serious look, as if trying to tell him with no words that someone had just died as opposed to the simple fact that you weren't sure you wanted everyone to know. No, you weren't embarrassed by him. You were probably the opposite of embarrassed by him, whatever that meant, you just didn't want your friends to know because they were _your friends_ and you knew that they would be overly teasing about it. He quickly picked up on what you meant, sighing and seeming puzzled for a moment before regaining the same energy he had had before, "Am I allowed to tell one person?" You thought and nodded, and he grinned, peppering your face in kisses while you laughed happily.


	11. Karaoke

 

You huffed when the notebook was taken back by Vriska, but noticed that Ms. Peixes was coming, and hurried to finish typing up your notes on the tablet you had been given by the school. It wasn't the most modern technology, but it was enough that you could take all of your notes on it and use its text-to-speech for studying, which was enough for them to give it to you. They must have figured that if you were some sort of delinquent, it would discourage you from stealing it, as if you couldn't afford to get yourself a table if you wanted one that badly. When she passed, you leaned toward Aradia, attempting to keep your voice at a whisper to gather more information on the double date, "Where are we even going?" She told you to just leave with Latula before returning to silently taking notes, making you huff.

* * *

"It had to be karaoke, didn't it?" Karkat grumbled next to you, and you made a face, smacking his arm. He whined, and you leaned up to press a quick kiss of apology to his cheek, though you weren't actually that sorry that you had smacked his arm so much as that he had been offended. Latula and Mituna snickered about something in the front seat, and you chose to believe that it was their conversation and not the two of you; or at least, you hoped.

You stayed rather close for most of the car ride, only moving away from him when your sister pulled into the parking lot so you could get out of the car before checking the name of the place, simply called The Lamplighter.

Aradia and Sollux perked up from where they had been leaning against a wall by the door in wait, and you privately wondered why they hadn't just ridden with you since you had had to pick Mituna up from Sollux's house anyway. Aradia was practically radiating cheer as she approached the four of you, keeping her distance from the car as she waved at Karkat and threw her arms around you like you were family. "I'm so glad you actually came!" You raised a brow; she seemed to be implying that you had ever had a choice in this, like she wouldn't have had your head if you and Karkat didn't show up.

When the five of you went inside and paid for entry, and Karkat grumbled because he was mad that you paid for him despite his insistence you didn't need to, you sat at a table and your sister looked curiously at the list of songs while Mituna stared at his lap and Aradia and Sollux flirted quietly. You couldn't hear them over the woman who was practically screeching into the microphone, or maybe she was holding it up to a chalkboard as she defiled it with her clearly never-cut nails, either way the frontal assault on your ears was definitely not singing. Thankfully, it wasn't that hard to ignore it; while the noise was definitely loud and unpleasant, whatever lyrics she was trying to get out were slurred to the point of incoherence, and occasionally got lost completely in the bass, which you assumed she wasn't supposed to be singing over at points anyway. You clapped politely at the end of the song with two other people until Karkat pressed your hands to the table.

"So, Karkat, what are you singing?" Aradia said it cheerily, with a wide grin on her face, but he just gave her a glare in return. Sollux poked his side, earning a startled yelp, and Karkat chastised him until an employee arrived at your table to ask who would be singing what and if you wanted any sort of snacks (Latula and Mituna happily ordered chili cheese fries, nachos, and practically everything else on the menu, and you found yourself wondering if your sister was a stoner).

"I don't _sing._ I don't like to and I'm bad at it, it'd be an unpleasant experience for everyone involved." Instead of saying anything, she just grinned at him, and whispered something in the waiter's ear before dragging Karkat up to the stage.

You recognized the beginning notes instantly, and you knew from Karkat's facepalm that he did as well; you almost snorted at the look he was giving Aradia, before he looked at you and sighed, away from the microphone of course. You smiled when Aradia started to sing, having a surprisingly nice voice that match the song and the tone of the song well, and Sollux stared at her with puppy dog eyes while even Karkat seemed to gape. You weren't sure where Latula and Mituna had wandered off to, but you were sure that if they were around their expressions would have been similar awestruck ones. You moved to sit in Aradia's seat next to Sollux, giving him a moment to continue admiring his girlfriend and her singing skills before leaning over to whisper to him about the song choice.

"Wake Me Up?" It was whispered, so as not to be loud enough to completely cover her singing if he chose to keep listening to it as opposed to continuing the conversation with you.

"It'th been her favorite thince the accident."

"Edgy." He snorted at you and looked away.

Despite being a grumbly backup singer, you could tell that Karkat wasn't actually as bad a singer as he made himself out to be.

You felt like a bad girlfriend because you'd never heard him sing before, and when he returned to the table, you made a point of wrapping your arms around him and kissing his cheek a few times, grinning extra wide at how quickly his face flushed. It didn't take him long to remove your arms from his body and mumble something at you about PDA. You assumed he wasn't a fan from his tone, even if you didn't exactly catch his wording.

"You didn't thound like shit, I'm amazed." Karkat glared at Mituna as he and your sister sat at the table again, with a couple of trays containing fries of varying degrees of chili-d and cheese-d, wings, a couple of burgers, and chicken for Aradia, who couldn't have beef and didn't like hot foods, unlike Mituna and the whole Pyrope family. After all, what sort of Russian can't handle a bit of spice in their life? You had to cover your boyfriend's mouth before he could finish his declaration that he was amazed Mituna managed to get that entire sentence out without choking on his own tongue, and you and Latula exchanged knowing and thankful glances. After a minute you moved your hand and he grabbed a cheese fry, which was apparently Sollux's, as you stole a wing from your sister and you and Latula stuck your tongues out at each other. Every once in a while, Mituna would encourage Latula to go up and sing a song that was only barely appropriate for public because she had 'such a nice voice,' and Sollux would tease Karkat about how he couldn't even hear him over Aradia with how he mumbled everything.

"That was the point." He huffed, and not much dialogue was exchanged after that, listening to Latula and anyone else who went up. You had to admit that she did have a nice voice when she was singing in a legitimate singing voice, which you had heard many times shortly after your father died and your mother was still learning to cope so the two of you had to raise each other, though the voice she was singing in tonight was not a legitimate singing voice. It was nice, unmistakably so, but it wasn't your sister's singing voice, with a thick accent that would sing you folk songs from your native culture that would lull you to sleep, or cute little Irish ditties that taught you many untrue facts about lambs or fire as you walked to your friends' houses down the street. It was nice, but it was practically already over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terezi's handwriting is awfully neat for a blind girl! Haha, I used Google Docs and that was the messiest font I could find that actually looked appealing for her, and it seems like Terezi to have neater handwriting despite being blind. So there's the explanation for that.
> 
> Also, yes, their biology teacher is Fef's really old mum.
> 
> That ending was very abrupt also, someone please save me.


	12. - AUTHOR'S NOTE: HIATUS -

Hello loves! Darla here.

As you may or may not have noticed, it took me forever to churn that last chapter out, even if it does say it was published back on June whateverth, it was actually published today (the ninth of July). That would be due to a combination of things:

  * One of my closest friends of seven years lives in Arizona during the school year, and visits during the summer and winter breaks, so as you may be able to tell, I don't get to see him very often and have been spending time with him.
  * I recently entered a relationship with aforementioned close friend, meaning that yes, I have a boyfriend. (I am actually in a polyamorous relationship and have two, the other dork has been with me for almost two months and he is very cute and nerdy.) Trying to get all of that New Relationship Energy, as my dad likes to call it, out of the way really quickly before I leave and then he leaves.
  * Last but not least, I am going out to my dad's for a month! My dad was never really around when I was growing up, and didn't try to get involved in my life until I was about eleven and a half, which caused some major bullying and issues that I won't delve into here. I will be meeting him in person for the second time ever!



Which brings me to the point of this. If you can't tell from the title of this chapter being "- AUTHOR'S NOTE: HIATUS -", I am going on a hiatus for my trip! I will be in the city of Philadelphia for a month doing all sorts of things with my dad and my step-mom, who are both really great and have raised a lot of money through a [GoFundMe](https://www.gofundme.com/2cwnrnw) to take me to do all sorts of cool things while I am visiting ($1000 is a lot of money!). I have of course left you a link if you want to donate to that, though honestly I am already going to cry about how much they've raised because people paid a thousand dollars to make sure I have a good trip?? I return on August 14th, which is a Sunday, and if you didn't know, I tend to update on Saturdays, so the next update will probably be on August 20th. With that said, I hope you all have a great month and I will see you when I update!


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